Buck Miller I - Modern Draft League Manager

(1) Miller I sets aside either a 4 or 5 man starting rotation. Generally, pitchers with more starts than relief appearances and 15 or more starts are considered. Those pitchers are then ranked by ERA - lowest to highest. The top 4 (or 5 if the fourth best starter had fewer than 15 starts) are then set aside or considered at the team's rotation. Any pitcher falling outside that rotation can and will be used in relief regardless of whether they had actual relief appearances.
(2) Miller I (like versions I, II and III) is NOT designed for historic or season replays. They are designed solely for draft league games. Use of the Miller managers in a historic season will lead to odd results or stats.

Buck Miller I is designed to handle modern draft league only replays. He is not designed to manage season replays of any type. Although created to guide modern seasons, he may be adequate in handling pre-modern (e.g, 1990) replays depending on your team's roster.

Several important points to make:

1) Miller I, as noted above, does NOT set aside a starting rotation. He will and does use any pitcher not specifically benched in League Manager or in your lineup/rotation setup. So, you MUST bench your rotation (or choose the "Bench Pitching Rotation" option in LM).

2) Miller I selects closer by saves and not grades. So, relievers with high save totals but low grades will be used over pitchers having the opposite stats. A "regular" closer will have save totals of roughly 12 or higher (note: platoon advantages give a "bonus" to the save totals - so a reliever with 8 or 9 saves but a high platoon advantage might be used as a closer). A "supercloser" will have saves of 20 or higher. Miller I will more, obviously, aggressively use the superclosers than the "normal" closers (depending on the starter's grade, QS et cetera).

3) Generally, Miller I follows the LaRussa one inning closer approach. That is, closers (both normal and super) will likely only pitch the ninth in save situations. Set up relievers will be heavily used before then. If a team has more than one closer, the closer with the lower saves will be used as a setup reliever for the superior closer. Miller I will be, however, be willing to pull your top closer for a lower rated one if the top reliever is struggling. Generally, superclosers will only be pulled if another closer (or supercloser) is available. And closers will be pulled in save situations only if a high save total reliever (roughly 7+ depending on any platoon advantages) is in the bullpen.
Note: Miller I is not "locked" in to the one inning strategy; you may see a reliever coming in the 8th inning if he's fully rested (RR 10+) and there's a threat situation.

4) Miller I (like II, III and IV) hates to see relievers hit. You'll see a very aggressive use of double switches and "rearrangement" of the batting order to try and limit the times a reliever hits. Generally, unless the reliever is a "stud" pitcher or the game is lopsided or a team's bullpen is thin due to overwork, you'll likely never see a relief pitcher hit.

5) Miller I has a number of "bells and whistles" some of which may or may not be applicable to your team. For example, he has a couple of pinchrun to steal strategies (second or third) that may not apply to your team if you don't have a good base stealer on your bench (e.g., steal rating of 28 or higher). Additionally, Miller I has a pinch hit to bunt strategy that requires a "good bunter" be available; a pinch hit for a hit and run situation (that also requires a bench hitter with a good H&R ability that includes a low SO/AB ratio) and a few other assortment yip-de-doos.